Navalny's Russian Courage

'I cannot run away. Not one of us has the right to be neutral.'

Updated July 8, 2013 8:40 p.m. ET

As part of the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent, Russian prosecutors on Friday demanded a six-year prison term on trumped-up embezzlement charges for Alexei Navalny. In a passionate, nine-minute closing speech before the court in the provincial center of Kirov and a live Internet audience, the 37-year-old Mr. Navalny showed why he has become the leader of Russia's opposition to autocratic President Vladimir Putin.

Wearing a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves, the lawyer and anti-corruption blogger said that this and other...